Not a step away, not a step back. The women who took to the streets yesterday protested against the victory of new Argentine President Javier Milei. El Loco, who will arrive at the Casa Rosada from the television gallery on December 10, has repeatedly expressed his desire to repeal the law that legalizes abortions up to the fourteenth week of pregnancy. During the months-long campaign, the ultra-liberalist – supported by pro-life supporters and the church – proposed a referendum on abortion, defined as “murder aggravated by the mother-child bond.” A deputy from Libertad Avanza, the state’s new party leader, also announced that its repression would be a priority on the government’s agenda. “There are threats, but it is a right that we have recently conquered and its abolition would have too high an international cost,” says Irupé Tentorio, a journalist and activist who took part in the 2020 Green Wave, opposite Open Only three Years ago, Argentina legalized abortion, which was previously only permitted in cases of rape or if there was a risk to the woman’s health. After the bill was also given the green light by the Senate, Argentine squares were filled with green handkerchiefs (Pañuelos), a symbol of the fight for IVG (IVE in Spanish). And now, three years after that conquest, Argentinians once again took to the streets of the country and called on the executive to “not take a step back” on the rights won.
Do you think that with Javier Milei’s victory there could be a “step back” in terms of the rights won?
Benégas Lynch, MP and right-wing man of Javier Milei, is against abortion (pro-life) and continues to say on television that he wants to abolish it. Agustín Laje, a political scientist and most likely a member of the future government team, also holds the same opinion. However, they do not have the political strength in Parliament to repeal it, and the international costs would also be too high. The priorities of the new Milei executive are economic, which essentially means closing the Ministry of Gender and Diversity. There are threats of repeal, true, but it is a right that has been won recently and with a large wave of women.
Yesterday (November 25th, editor’s note) Onda Verde took to the streets again after a long time, this time against Milei. Will there be such events in 2020?
During Fernández’s presidency, the number of women participating in protests decreased. The pandemic, the creation of the Ministry of Gender and Diversity and the abortion law were achievements that contributed to this decline. Argentina has a long history of street mobilizations, but now we don’t know what it will be like to take to the streets to protest against a president who advocates violence and repression. This government is willing to kill. And today a new chapter begins in Argentina’s democratic history, one that many generations know nothing about.
Can divisions within the country on the issue of abortion partly explain the far right’s victory in the elections?
No, the far right won in Argentina because there is a very strong socio-economic crisis. According to Indec (National Institute of Statistics and Census of Argentina), there is inflation of 140%, over 40% poverty, 10% need and we are also a country indebted to the International Monetary Fund ($57 million): the most important loan in the history of the IMF and also Argentina. Although education in Argentina is completely free, poverty breeds a lot of ignorance. People are very tired of the inflation problems, which, by the way, we have had all our lives, except in the 90s with the convertibility process.
Would Argentines vote for or against repealing the abortion law in a referendum?
I’m not sure. I live in the city of Buenos Aires, the situation is different. But the rest of Argentina, especially the north, is very conservative.
Voluntary abortion has been legal since 2020, what is the situation? Is it easy to get an abortion in Argentina?
Since the passage of the Abortion Law, the public health system has guaranteed 170,151 voluntary (and legal) abortions nationwide, and maternal mortality due to abortion has decreased from 23% in 2020 to 13% in 2021. I don’t know if “simple” is the right word, but there is a lot more information and there are rights.
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